Determination of Hydrophilic and Amphiphilic Organic Pollutants in the Aquatic Environment

Abstract

Environmental chemists performing monitoring or process-oriented fate and behavior studies on organic micropollutants face the challenge of having to determine low concentrations of problem compounds in complex mixtures and difficult matrices, such as sewage sludge, surface and groundwater. Selective extraction and enrichment help to overcome sensitivity limitations and also to reduce the number of different species in the sample. A subsequent chromatographic separation step, together with analyte-specific detection, finally allows to identify and quantify single analytes in the presence of other organic material. This article describes a selection of analytical development work carried out at EAWAG for the determination of hydrophilic and amphiphilic organic pollutants in the aquatic environment.